This and that about my life in Missouri, and the loves of my life... my family.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Happy Saturday

The torrential downpour of rain that we were blessed with a few days ago was shortlived. It would be so nice to experience a day or two of nice, gentle, cooling, rain. Our farmers are devastated. Of course we can't fully understand how far reaching this drought really is.

Our normally green hillside. The pond to the left was bank full at the end of May.

Trees look to be dying all around us. Are the leaves just turning brown early or are the trees really dead? Time will tell, I guess. Food prices are going to sky rocket. Something I've never understood, though, is why the prices don't come back down when the crisis is over. Farmers are having to sell livestock because they won't have any hay to feed them this winter. They could have (and some have been able to) made silage out of the ruined corn crops, but if insurance covered the crops, then the corn could not be used for anything else. That would have been double dipping. Could they have given it away? So many things in our world just doesn't make sense to me.

On a bright note, our temperatures are downright wonderful right now. We enjoyed temepratures in the 60's as we sat on our porch, drinking our morning coffee, the past couple of days. The highs are reaching only in the 80's. What a relief.

I'm pretty sure I have overdone it on the bird feeding front. A few days ago the feeders were empty. While sitting on the feeder a little guy looked my way and gave a chirp. I thought it was cute, but definitely a coincidence that it looked at me just as it chirped. But then last night while sitting on the porch (we seem to do that a lot these days), a Titmouse sat on the porch railing and fluttered its wings at us. When we paid it no mind, it came further in. Then it came back again and looked straight at me and chirped. Yes, I fed them this morning. It's no fun to be fussed at!

Time to get busy with fun stuff like cleaning the house. Hope you have a great weekend!

And the gas prices, they are going up almost daily!Wanna come and clean my house? I've got lots of high up beams that need dusting. We have a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. I paid the preacher tonight, so I will wait and see.

don't even want to think about how our food prices are going up. We already spend $9000 a week. Last night was downright chilly in the Jeep with the top down after dinner. I came home from my trip to find a completely empty new bird feeder. I am going to blame a squirrel. I bought a big bag of corn and sunflower seeds to throw around for the bratty squirrels.We have a few dead trees and bushes even though my husband is a watering maniac.

The drought our your way, and in the midwest, is driving the cost of corn and soybeans thru the roof. When those grains go up in price, the other commodities always follow. One of this country's biggest mistake was taking corn from the food supply and making it into ethanol. You can't eat ethanol.

We're selling corn and soybean meal at unbelievable prices. The farmers are hurting more now than ever before. Our accounts receivable is increasing every week, and things are getting pretty tough out there. We're selling bulk shelled corn for around $350 per ton, and soybean meal is going for well over $600 a ton. You can't make any money feeding dairy cows when the price for milk is low and everything else is high. Some of our best customers are already cutting back on the quality of their feed...choosing a lesser quality feed in order to pay the feed bill.

The corn crop is looking fairly decent here in northeastern Pennsylvania, but the hayfields didn't get the rain they needed for a second or third cutting.

Beef will be flooding the market as farmers sell off their herds, and the price of beef at the stores will have a temporary low, but it won't last long. It's going to be a rough winter for lots of folks, myself included.

I agree with everything AK just said. Although IL is part of the drought area, where I'm at isn't so bad. Most of the corn crops look ok, with the exception of being a bit shorter in height this year. Even the soybeans are looking ok. Some trees have started dropping leaves, but I think it's a defense mechanism. Without the leaves, the little water the tree gets is used to keep it alive.

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About Me

It is tough trying to explain me. My husband of 40 years would say it is not possible. My three children would definitely say it is not possible. I think the only ones who can explain me would be my 10 grandchildren. They sum it up in two words - Silly Grandma.